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At the Asylum interview
AT THE ASYLUM INTERVIEW PURPOSE OF THE INTERVIEW The interview is your opportunity to tell your own, personal story about what happened to you in your own home country and why you decided to come to Ireland. It is very important to be prepared for it and to do it as well as possible. You are not automatically entitled to recognition of your refugee status, you must convince the interviewer that you are a refugee. GOING TO THE INTERVIEW You will receive a letter from the Department of Justice with the date of the interview. In most cases you will receive it approximately one month before the interview, but it also can be shorter notice. It is very, very important, that you go to the interview. If you absent yourself without reasonable cause,your case will be treated as “abandoned”. You can only be “re-admitted” into the asylum procedure if you have valid reasons for your non-attendance. If you fail to go on more than one occasion, the Refugee Applications Commissioner (RAC) will recommend that you should not be declared a refugee. You have to go to your interview even if you are feeling a little bit sick with a cold or similar illness. If you are seriously ill or cannot travel due to advanced pregnancy contact the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (DOJ) immediately. You have to get a certificate “sick note” from a doctor and present it to the DOJ. THE INTERVIEW The interview will be held in a small office. The only other people present will be the interviewer, and if necessary, the translator. Do not be afraid of the interviewer. Make eye contact and smile. Looking away, which is polite in some cultures, may be taken as a sign of evasiveness. Give full information in reply to questions, not just 'Yes’ or ‘No’ answers. Feel free to have notes and to consult them as necessary. Do not read out answers to questions. Typically interviews last for two to four hours. Couples, whether married or unmarried, will be interviewed separately. This is usually on the same day but may be on different days. The DOJ has nobody to look after your child during your interview. You are allowed to bring your child into the interview room, but we advise you not to do this. Your child will distract you from the interview questions. If you have any documents, bring them with you (i.e. birth/death certificates references etc.). Theycan help to explain your case to the interviewer. Explain the reasons why you had to leave your country in as much detail as possible. Give exact dates when you speak about events and incidents. Remember that credibility is very important. If you had good reason to tell lies or use false documents to travel out of your country of origin,it is better to reveal that fact, and explain the reasons for it to the interviewer. If it emerges later that you did deliberately conceal something relevant, your application could be treated as manifestly unfounded. Feel confident and free to ask for a short break to recapture your thoughts, to drink a glass of wateror go to the toilet. You are legally entitled to an interpreter, but only if it is necessary and possible. The DOJ will arrange this person for you. If the interpreter is not available you can refuse to continue. If you are not satisfied with the interpreter, you may refuse to continue the interview. This is better than continuing the interview with a misinterpretation of your story. While you speak, the interviewer takes notes of your story. At the end of the interview you are asked to sign each page of these notes. Take your time and read each page very, very carefully Only sign the pages if you agree 100% with the content of each page. If you do not agree with the contents of the page, make this remark before you sign the page. If you are accompanied by a observer, this person is not allowed to speak during the interview. He or she can only take notes. After the interview the observer can speak and can make remarks about the conduct of the interview. For example the observer could indicate if the interview was not held fairly or if certain issues are not understood correctly. After the interview you have 7 working days to make “written observations” on the interview. You may present additional documents to the DOJ at any time up to the appeal stage. If youwant to bring forward additional information at the appeal stage, you will have to explain why this material was not available at the initial interview with the Refugee Applications Commissioner